UPDATE: St. Kilda champion Lenny Hayes will retire at the end of AFL season

St. Kilda legend Lenny Hayes has today announced that his 16-year AFL career will come to a close at the end of the 2014 AFL season.

The 34-year-old will bow out of the game with an impressive list of achievements, including three St. Kilda best and fairest awards and All-Australian selections, as well as a Norm Smith Medal.

Hayes said that although the decision was tough to make, it was the correct one.

“I love playing football and I love the St. Kilda Football Club so it was never going to be easy to make this call,” Hayes told Saints.com.au.

“It has been a tremendous journey. I am enormously grateful for experiences I have had and the lifelong friends I have made in my time playing for St Kilda.

“While the team has its challenges at the moment, I am confident that with the right guidance from Alan Richardson and our senior players, our young playing list will develop strongly and can take the Saints to success once again in the not too distant future.”

St. Kilda coach Alan Richardson said Hayes was held in the highest regard and would be remembered as a club great.

“I have always held Lenny in the highest esteem as an outsider looking in but since I have come to St Kilda, my opinion of him has only grown,” Richardson said.

“He is held in the highest regard by everyone in the football world and the leadership he has shown both on and off the field has been nothing short of outstanding. He will be remembered as one of St Kilda’s all-time greats.”